Saturday, March 22, 2014

Following on from my article about why I prefer the term "black", I encountered what I can only describe as an unexpected and actually quite upsetting response via Twitter. It was unexpected because it came from members of the migrant community; a community which, on the most part, I have experienced as strong allies. It was upsetting because no amount of explanation from an Indigenous perspective seemed to satisfy. There was a barrow to be pushed and it needed to be pushed at all costs. I write this piece not to cause division, but rather to use this opportunity to educate in the hope that the knowledge of people is expanded.

It started as an initial long Tweet that I was sent, but from there it developed into a long twitter exchange. At no point throughout this exchange did I get the sense that any of the points I had raised from an Indigenous perspective were taken on board. This long tweet, minus identification and lead-in paragraph is below:

You've made some comments that indicate that you regard it as ‘old
fashioned’ or ‘wrong’ to use skin colour as a marker of race. However,
if you deny skin colour as a marker of race, then you deny an important
aspect of Blackness.

Being darker doesn't make you more Black, but it does make you, all
other things being equal, more discriminated against. To deny that is to
deny your privilege: not privilege of class, education or profession,
but privilege of skin colour.

There are countless different ways to be Black and not all of them are
visible. But denying visibility in Blackness reminds me of whites who
claim to be colour-blind. In doing so, they deny other people’s
experience.

I think the reason why this means so much to me is that I have no shared
culture, no shared history, no shared community or any of what you
consider to be contemporary or valid Blackness. Just skin colour.

Now before I go further, it should be highlighted that my article, which was completely about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity, and which used many of our descriptive terms, our language and our experience to highlight this fact was interpreted, as was made clear in the residual tweets, to have impact for non-Indigenous communities of colour. I never set out to represent these viewpoints in my piece. I do not have the required background to represent these views from a first-hand experience. Considering that our media is dominated by white males writing about everyone else, I would much rather read those perspectives first-hand rather than silence the voices by hazarding guesses at what their views might be. Likewise, I expect that people would recognise that I am coming from the perspective of an educated Arrernte woman of the hard-left persuasion who lives in the city, recognise how rare those voices are in the media, and not contribute to the silencing. It was unfortunate that this didn't happen.

To start with the point regarding how skin colour is a racial marker and there is a privilege associated with lighter skin, I didn't deny this in my responses although I tried to highlight from an Indigenous perspective why the situation was more complicated. I just got walls. This was why I ended up putting a stop to the conversation. To put it simply, I don't disagree with Dallas Scott when he highlights how skin colour seems to be associated with greater financial disadvantage, lower educational attainment and social ostracism, although I would argue that factors such as remoteness and mainstream ignorance also come into play. I'm 100% certain that skin colour was the reason why Jack Charles and Gurrumul Yunupingu were denied taxis. Their visibility is undeniable.

However, fair skin privilege from an Indigenous perspective is incredibly limited. The view expressed by the long tweet completely ignores the many assimilation practices that fairer skinned Aboriginal people have been exposed to in this country, such as the "Stolen Generations". Children of fairer skin being ripped away from their darker parents in order to be trained up in domestic chores and farmhand duties so they could then be given to settler communities as free labour.

Fair skinned children being blackened up with charcoal by the parents in the hope that the government officers would not notice their colouring. Children being belted for speaking their language and forced to abandon language, culture and family in order to avoid punishment. Living conditions so abhorrent that a dog would turn it's nose up at them. Don't believe me? Here is my grandmother, who was a member of the Stolen Generations, talking about the experience in her own words. It didn't end with my grandmother either. My father was a welfare kid who ended up with some siblings in The Convent School in Alice Springs where they were also punished severely for expressing language and culture. Recently my brother, at my father's birthday, delivered a speech where he gave the first paragraph in Arrernte. I cannot not tell you how that felt. For two generations children in my family were denied the right to speak language because they were wards of the state and here's my brother, at nearly 30 years old, reclaiming this language so that his siblings and his son are not also denied it. It's for these reasons that you see so many fairer skinned Aboriginal people fighting so damn hard to reclaim language, family and culture. By virtue of skin colour many were denied these things. This is not an experience within the borders of this country that translates readily to a migrant experience.

Additionally, whilst I never denied skin colour as a marker, and whilst I also don't deny the existence of some fair skin privilege in the some ways, what about visiting the concept of "migrant privilege"? The White Australia Policy existed until the early 1980s yet from the 1940s onwards, following the impacts of wars, it was chipped away at bit by bit. Non-white immigrants were eventually accepted into the country in various "waves" to the point of Malcolm Fraser openly supporting multiculturalism and opening up the refugee programmes to many Asian nations. This country has gone so far backward since this time with elections being won on the basis of "stopping the boats" that I am disgusted to live in it. Yet, here's the thing: my father, despite being born in this country and having ancestors that had been born in this country for roughly 4000 generations, was not counted in the census as a citizen of this country until he was 17 years old. This is why I have problems with the term "First Australians". Each successive wave of immigrants became Australians before the First Peoples, regardless of skin colour, were recognised as human beings. Therefore, migrant communities, whilst actively discriminated against by other Australians and enduring vast poverty, racism, ostracism and countless other things, also had more rights in this country than the First Peoples.

I state this not to be inflammatory. Rather it is a simple historical fact and one I believe that the majority of people living in this country are unaware of. They are not aware that one of the wealthiest countries in this world has third world conditions tucked away far from the visible eye. They are not aware that trachoma and other third world diseases are still an issue here. They are not aware and I am not surprised. Why? Because this country continually fails to acknowledge its own history and even goes to the extent of suppressing it by referring to the negatives as "black armband history"; therefore there is no value for national pride to revisit this stuff. Everyone who lives here benefits from stolen lands for which treaties are yet to be negotiated, massacres, frontier wars, assimilation policies and the displacement of original peoples. Including Indigenous peoples that live on lands other than homelands (yep, this would be me). Yet the broader knowledge of this is so severely lacking. Sometimes a simple acknowledgement is all that it takes to make the day of an Indigenous person struggling for recognition.

One final point, throughout the course of the tweeting, the dissenting voices referred to themselves as "Black Australians" and I feel the need to claim sovereignty here. To me this was no different than seeing Andrew Bolt referring to himself as an "indigenous Australian". It diminishes our importance as First Peoples of this country. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the "Black Australians". Migrants of colour are black people who have made Australia their home and have become "Australians" therefore accepting this country as it stands: a place which was wrongfully declared Terra Nulliusand was taken without the consent of the First Peoples. There is a difference. We use "black" as a way of highlighting our experiences as a result of, or in contrast to "White Australia". The lack of general population knowledge due to national denial when it comes to our unique struggles is why I feel that this distinction is sometimes unknown and needs to be explained.

I wish to apologise to the many comrades and allies I have within the migrant communities for the existence of this blogpost. Know how much I value you, your support and your commitment to fighting side-by-side for recognition in this country. This is not a blogpost that is written for you. Rather it is written for others who, sometimes through no fault of their own, do not possess this knowledge. Who would make comments such as encountered above without realising just how limited and uneducated on the plight of First Peoples these comments are. Who accept this country as their home with a dominant power to struggle against for recognition yet fail to delve into intricacies of the experiences of First Peoples. I hope this post assists in their acquisition of knowledge.

Finally, I look very much forward to reading more about the experiences of migrant communities in this country. I want to read a hell of a lot more about the unique experiences of racism, the ostracism and the intricacies from these voices. I WANT to read about skin colour and how this manifests as a site of repression from a migrant perspective. If I had my way, the dominant white, middle-class, right-wing male voices would be sidelined in the media in favour for diversity and the sharing of true knowledges. I will never, however, be representing these voices myself in my writings. As First Peoples whose experience is almost always denied, we've got our own stories to tell and I am not the right person to be telling the stories of others. With respect. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Update 11/4/14 - Earlier this week, a response was written by the original poster of the long tweet that started all this. On reading this post, beyond linking it so people do know a response was prepared, I have decided no further response from me is warranted. The piece speaks for itself and I would be clearly wasting my time furthering this exchange, and a couple of parallel exchanges with others. Among many other "interesting" points made, it's news to me that I want anyone to accept this country as it is, what with me being a sovereignty supporter and all... Anyway, make of it what you will.Update 14/4/14 (what I hope will be the final one) - Eugenia Flynn has written a response to this whole situation, and I encourage all to read it. It's incredibly important and not only reflects her own proximity to this issue but came about because, despite all efforts, things didn't appear to be letting up any time soon and myths were continuing to be perpetuated by those with a barrow to push to achieve their own notoriety (my words, not hers). It is an extraordinary piece and I want to thank her publicly for taking the time to articulate her views. I hope that those with unanswered questions will find them within her articulate text. I have previously stated that no further response from me is warranted, and whilst there was a further response given on me stating this (available via the link in the first edit if you click on the main site), it is unproductive to engage with that response post or any subsequent as I have no doubt they will continue. Fiction is fast becoming "fact" and I'm not willing to be a part of that.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Social media can be
alternately a wondrous invention of the 21st century
whilst also being a curse. It's wonderful because with the click of a
mouse button, you are able to connect with an infinite amount of
people instantly and find out what's going on. A particularly useful
tool to have when communicating with the Indigenous community. However, when
what's going on is not particularly pleasant stuff, the gift of
social media fast turns into a curse.

Such it was last week
when news spread rapidly that a
publican in Coolgardie had banned Indigenous people from drinking
in her pub because her phone was allegedly stolen. A sign, that was
quickly photographed and circulated on social media attested to this
racist ban. The story of an Aboriginal miner who was refused service
and is
now seeking legal advice was told. The pub's page on Facebook was
trolled with reviews being written about the regular KKK meetings and
the archaic attitudes and decor. In short, some well-oiled internet activism sprung into
action and let people know that this was not acceptable.

The publican apologised
soon after the sign had gone viral, but by then the damage had been
done. People had witnessed the modern day exclusion of a group of
people based on race via the information superhighway. For a moment
we felt yet again like things hadn't progressed since the time
Freedom Riders were spat on and arrested at the Moree Pool for trying to gain access so the local black kids could have a swim.

The problem is, this is
not an isolated incident. This happens more regularly than people in
this country either hear about or acknowledge. In this instance, thanks
to social media, information was quickly and widely dispersed, but
this was not the case in Bairnsdale in 2011 when Police
issued a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol to Aboriginal people
in an attempt to curve street violence. In 2008, a Taree
bottle shop put a ban on “mixed or otherwise” Aboriginal
people and instructed staff to tell these people to leave. Of course,
in 2007 the Racial Discrimination Act was suspended and blanket
alcohol and pornography bans were enacted in remote Northern
Territory communities but it has been mainly activist groups who
have questioned these government policies. The general public have
been mainly silent. They probably believe, what with the government
rhetoric and the media reporting, that these bans were completely
warranted despite
the original Lateline report that led to a declaration of a
“state of emergency” was found to be seriously lacking in
credibility.

Of course, exclusion
does not always centre around alcohol. Last year the cast of The
Shadow King were repeatedly
refused taxi service in Melbourne and were later racially abused
by a tram commuter. Also last year, well-known community character
and Elder statesman of the theatre Jack
Charles went public on an incident of racism he had experienced
again from a taxi driver. Famous Yolgnu singer Geoffrey
Gurrumul Yunupingu was refused a taxi the previous year in St.
Kilda, despite him being blind and therefore needing reliable
assisted transportation. These are the incidents involving public
Indigenous figures so you can just imagine how often it happens to
everyday Aboriginal people.

We see the continual
videos taken on public transport of racist attacks including one
on a presumed Aboriginal person (though later this was found to
not be the case) only a couple of weeks ago. We hear the offensive
opinions some Australian revellers on Australia Day have of
Aboriginal people in John Pilger's documentary Utopia.
These are all incidences of what we call “blatant racism” but
while this stuff raises its ugly head occasionally, events
like Australia Day, statements such as “black
armband view of history” and frequent tales of how
acknowledging
difference is apparently racist also exclude Aboriginal people.
They tell us that we don't have a right to our truth, our history and
present, and our right to define ourselves how we choose. They
exclude through denial and assimilation. If people don't feel
that this is every bit as damaging as being excluded through blatant
acts such as bans and denials of service, they are very wrong.

Racism
is a part of every day life in Australia. It is heartening to see
people band together on social media and state that these sorts of
acts against an entire group of people are not acceptable. It gives
me hope that through these channels and contact over networks that
did not exist in previous generations, people are connecting with
others they may not have in the past and are therefore being
challenged and gaining different perspectives. They can also pressure
people who exhibit attitudes that exclude entire races of people and
enact change. There is still so very far to go though...

Sharing this for posterity. Link is from the NT Government Archives called "Territory Families". My Nanna passed away in 2003, and therefore, despite the fact that she is talking about some horrific conditions and being taken from family and community as a young girl to two childrens' missions, the fact that I can still hear her voice this many years after she passed is a gift.

From memory, this was originally in an exhibition in the early 90s called "Between Two Worlds". To quote the intro:

Around
1930 or thereabouts, when Emily Liddle was nine years old, the
authorities decided that it was time for her, as a child of Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal heritage, to leave the station where she’d grown up
and go to school.

At this time the children were no longer held in town at the
‘Bungalow’ but were taken to Jay Creek, about 45km away in the West
MacDonnells.

In time the institution was moved from Jay Creek back into town, to
the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, and Emily Liddle came too

Friday, March 7, 2014

This piece was originally commissioned, but it turned out to not be suitable as a more personal take was wanted. I've decided to post this here, and will release the other one once it has been published elsewhere.

For a very long time, Aboriginal women have been
active in the feminist movement and Aboriginal feminists have been
central in the Indigenous movement. We have a long and proud history
of strong women who speak their minds and who remain staunch in the
face of disparity. Yet as Aboriginal feminists, the struggles we face
are unique. Not only are we negotiating the hotbed of race politics
in this country and how that permeates throughout the women’s
movement, but we face gender politics from both the mainstream
Australian community also within the black community. It is for these
reasons that I feel Aboriginal feminism is, at this point growing,
and a new generation of activists are engaging and tackling issues
effecting black women today.

Due to the process of
colonisation, what effects white women generally effects black women,
however due to the intersection of race, black women face unique
battles as well. Back when the women's movement was fighting to
access to safe and effective contraception and legal abortion in this
country, Aboriginal women were additionally fighting for the right to
keep their children in the face of the legislation that led to the
Stolen Generations. White women were fighting for economic
independence separate from men (eg: so they were not forced to be
married to have security) and the right to equal pay while black
women were also fighting to be paid for their labour in the first
place.

Whilst the fights of
mainstream feminism have never been completely contrary to the fights
of black feminism in this country due to the processes of
colonisation, they have, at times, not been inclusive enough to allow
for the additional levels of oppression black women face. We
occasionally get accused of being divisive when we do bring up
incidences of intersecting oppression. Our real battles sometimes
remain unrecognised whilst a focus on feminist matters that would be
considered quite secondary to a lot of black women rages forth.
Sometimes, matters we would consider not particularly important in
the black feminist movement can be the ones we get questioned on the
most. One such example I can think of are the constant questions we
get about women playing the didgeridoo. It is considered culturally
inappropriate for women to play this instrument which is commonly
interpreted by mainstream feminism as sexist. However, black women
don't tend interpret it this way, rather it is seen as “men's
business” and therefore a respected part of culture. If black women
indeed do consider this sexist, then when it comes to the grand scale
of what black women are facing, such as having their agency removed
by policies within the NT Intervention, or the much higher rates of
intimate partner violence experienced, or achieving twice the number
of academic accolades yet only getting a smidgen of the recognition;
all whilst facing racism; whether or not we can play the didgeridoo
does not even rate as an issue. If it were an issue, it would be an
issue for black women to challenge. White women challenging this
would not only come across as an act of imperialism, it would also
severely diminish our right as black women to enact change within our
own communities.

Similarly, within black
movements, our women encounter the patriarchy. Black men, and women,
are not immune to reinforcing the patriarchy due to the fact that we
are both fighting for racial equality although sometimes this very
argument gets played. Additionally, whilst we fight with our brothers
against racism, some do accuse us of being divisive and not focussing
on the “real issues” when we bring up issues of sexism
experienced internally. This is because our men face oppression too
and highlighting that oppression can exist at a number of levels can
be seen as downplaying their experiences of oppression. I have been
told that the patriarchy is not a matter of concern within black
communities because it's considered a product of the colonisers, yet
this is not actually the case. Black women are seen as strong-willed
and able, yet from both black and white perspectives we are supposed
to be nurturers and supporters at the same time. We commonly hear
statements like “our women are the backbone of our communities”
(in other words, the part that gives the community strength,
structure and holds it all together in the background) regardless of
whether we wish to be the backbone or not.

We additionally face
the same issues as other women with regards to how we're valued
within the broader society. Our physical features are considered
extremely important yet we are subjected to oppressive western
notions of beauty and are additionally judged on our skin tones.
Despite our celebrated strength, we are also supposed to be
submissive and hyper-feminine. Our achievements are often considered
lesser on the basis of womanhood and additionally “concessional”
on the basis of Indigeneity. Sometimes we are freer from these
oppressive forces within the black communities due to the need, as a
small population, to be more tolerant and band together in the fight
against racism, but this is not always the case. In short, simple
recognition of women's issues in the context of race politics can
sometimes be a real battle.

In the process of
decolonisation and the fight for overall equality, Aboriginal
feminism is essential. Due to the intersecting forms of oppression,
black women are often at the coalface of the battles and therefore
can provide in-depth experience and solutions for the future. There
is a lot to share and learn from Aboriginal feminism, and indeed, I
feel that both the black movement and the women's movement are
stronger for having some passionate and dedicated black women working
with them and challenging the systems.

Monday, March 3, 2014

The other day, my article regarding my personal preference for certain terminology went live. I've posted the link to it in my articles tab, and it's also below in the original form if folks wish to have a flick through it. I saw it shared widely and I got some great comments back, from those who both agreed and disagreed with my stance. What I was most pleased with were mob who welcomed the piece. They are kind enough when it was first written here, so when it went "mainstream" I did wonder how it would go. So thank you to those who shared it.

Mostly, I avoided the commentary, as is my want but also because in a lifetime of being a black woman, much of the dissenting opinion from outside the mob is rehash. I have heard it all before, several thousand times and it doesn't get more interesting or convincing the more I read it. Oh yeah, and calling me a "white" person who is appropriating political terminology to feed into my alleged victim mentality just shows the petty-mindedness of some, as well as their complete inability to read an entire article without regurgitating their incessant bile onto a keyboard. I made a footnote to my original blogpost on receiving a comment but apart from that, I didn't engage.

What I did see though, which is equally rather boring, are what I call the "easy out loophole arguments". Several places where my post was published, I saw comments like this:

"What if I am about to talk to room full of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and I don't know their individual preferences for terminology? Am I supposed to go around asking everyone what they prefer before I start talking? What if they don't all agree? Am I then expected to use several terms?"

And this from progressive types. Allow me to *headdesk* before I go further...

In my piece I covered umbrella terminology and how I use it. Surely this would have given adequate insight to people on how to use these terms. The correct answer is "respectfully". Use the terms with respect, and if you are corrected by a community person later then take that information on board. It's really not that difficult. When I see people doing all this "what if...?" business I can't help but think that they are looking for some way to not engage fully with mob or are just throwing stuff into the "too hard basket". The key is always respect.

Respect, for example, is why I have actually lost count of the amount of times I have written to news publications over the years complaining about their use of a small 'i' when using the term "Indigenous" to refer to the mob. Several years ago I wrote a letter to the editor that got published in a Murdoch rag and although I had used capital 'I' throughout my letter, when it was published it had all been reduced to lower case. I rang up to complain to them about this and I was told that they had merely adhered to what was in their "style guide". I was not surprised that the Murdoch press had no style, I have to say...

"Indigenous" may not be a preferred term, but when we use it, in our own publications, we always capitalise the 'I'. When we say it, we are doing so with a capital 'I'. Why? Because we are using the term as a noun. We are naming ourselves as a collective of First Peoples of this country distinct from other inhabitants on the basis of history, culture, religious connection and timeline. We are not using it as an adjective; as a mere handy qualifier of the term "Australian". Indeed, we often use it without "Australian" tackled on at all. It never ceases to amaze me that certain publications will always capitalise the 'e' for "English", or the 'i' for "Indian" (to give a couple of examples) even when these terms precede "Australian", yet flatly refuse to take cues from the First Peoples of this country when it comes to how we would like to be addressed. How we are entitled to be addressed. And that, folks, is a perfect example of a term not being used in a respectful manner.

Then again, considering the amount of disrespectful coverage I have seen over the years from the MSM when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it probably is not remotely surprising that some sources still can't be bothered capitalising their 'i's...

About Me

Arrernte, feminist, hard left, trade unionist, with a taste for protopunk.
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